SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 31,2007) – Prof. Dr Ilijas Tanovic, Head of Russian Department at Sarajevo University’s Faculty of Philosophy, received in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo the Pushkin Medallion award for contribution to spreading of Russian language and literature and development of international relations between Russia and Bosnia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the award to be presented to Tanovic.
The Sarajevo University Rector Prof. Dr. Faruk Caklovica, Faculty of Philosophy Dean Srebren Dizdar, Russian Ambassador to Bosnia Konstantin Suvalov and numerous academicians, senators, deans, professors and students of the University of Sarajevo attended.
Rector Caklovica thanked in his address Professor Ilijas Tanovic and emphasized the importance of development of cultural and scientific cooperation between Bosnia and Russia.
About 60 scientific and expert works characterize the engagement of Professor Tanovic. All of the works have been published at the domestic and foreign magazines. He is also the author of several important books, some of them including the “Bosnian Language Phraseology” and “Negative Influence of Foreign Languages on Mothers Tongue”.
He also has written two dictionaries and 17 school books of Russian, which is an extraordinary enterprise.
Ambassador Suvalov emphasized the importance of Tanovic’s scientific engagement in Sarajevo which paved way to possibilities of transferring of knowledge on Russian language and literature between the students. He added that Tanovic can be considered a part of the Bosnian national treasure.
He added that Russian is spoken today by about 500 million people worldwide and that it is language one of the UN’s official languages.
Tanovic emphasized that the award is dedicated to all members of Department of Slavistics at the Sarajevo Faculty of Philosophy, especially to the students and the ones who “have already succeeded in beating their professor in achievements”.
Monday, December 31, 2007
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3 comments:
Congratulations to Dr. Tanovic!
It's nice to hear that at least somebody in Bosnia is working tirelessly on popularizing (already forgotten) Russian language and culture. I still remember Dr. Tanovic's books, where I got my first intro to the fairy-tale world of Russian language, its intricate grammar, peculiar melodic character, and grandiose body of literary works.
Once upon a time, Russian language had a good-size audience in Sarajevo's schools. English was, naturally, always considered as the most relevant; nevertheless, Russian was competitive with German and had greater student population than French, Spanish, Arabic, and Turkish.
The dissolution of USSR, war in Bosnia, desperate state Russian economy in the 90s and early 00s contributed to virtual disappearance of Russian from Sarajevo's schools and its marginal presence at the University of Sarajevo.
Let's hope that enthusiasts like Dr. Tanovic will succeed in restoring Russian to its rightful place among world languages studied in Sarajevo.
Once again, many thanks to Dr. Tanovic from a former Sarajevan and Russian language student, now living in the USA.
Bravo!
Congratulations to Dr. Tanovic!
It is my pleasure to hear that Dr. Tanovic received this award for his tireless work on promoting Russian language and culture in Bosnia.
As a former student of Russian, I still remember Dr. Tanovic’s books that first introduced me to the fairy-tale world of the Russian Language, its intricate grammar, unparalleled melodic character, and grandiose body of literary works. As I deepened my understanding of Russian lexical subtleties, I got to use Dr. Tanovic’s skilfully composed Bosnian-Russian dictionary. One can only imagine how much hard work and time Dr. Tanovic put into his dicitionary project.
Just a couple of decades ago, Russian boasted a solid student population in Sarajevo schools. English was, naturally, the most popular foreign language at the time, but Russian and German competed for the second place, leaving behind French and other important world languages.
Unfortunately, turbulent events of the late 20th century contributed to the virtual disappearance of Russian from Sarajevo’s schools and its marginal presence at the University of Sarajevo.
It’s my hope that Dr. Tanovic and other experts on Russian culture will be able to restore Russian language to its rightful place among world languages studied in Bosnian schools.
After all, Russian is spoken in at least ten countries that emerged from USSR, some of whom (including Russian Federation) are, much like Bosnia, multiethnic societies with all major religions reperesented.
Additionally, countries like Russia and Kazakhstan are huge in area, rich in key natural resources, and offer many opportunities for business with Bosnian companies.
Once again, congratulations to Dr. Tanovic from a former Sarajevan and a former student of Russian, now living in the USA.
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